This was such a good book! I was on my way to Maryland for a week of training for work and I had actually just started reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (which I still haven't finished!), but the hard back version is so big that I didn't want to lug it around with me. So, I stopped by a bookstore in the Atlanta airport to find something to read on my trip. (Paid way too much for it since I bought it in an airport, buy from Amazon or Half.com!!!) I was first attracted by the cover and once I read the summary, I was sold. I mean ghosts, mysteries, gothic suspense, come on!I thought the book was so well written and I really loved the main character Margaret. The main characters are such lovers of books that you really feel like kindred spirits. I guess that is also why I love the Twilight Series so much. I'll have to give Twilight it's own blog entry one day. Okay, here's the summary from books-a-million:
When Margaret Lea opened the door to the past, what she confronted was her destiny.
All children mythologize their birth...So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.
The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself -- all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.
As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.
Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth
The Thirteenth Tale is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life.
book website
4 comments:
Okay...so I just ordered this book last night off of Amazon along with Kite Runner and I was going to buy eat,pray,love but I changed it to The Glass Memoir at the last minute, have you read that book or heard of it? I was going to read The Kite Runner first but now that I have read your post I don't know which one to read first...help me, I am too excited!!! I hope they get here by Friday!!
Also, we finished watching Season 3of the Office last night and OMG!!!! Those last two episodes were AWESOME!! Loved the beach when Pam finally told Jim how she felt and then in the next episode at the end he asked her out on a date!! Okay, you can't leave me hanging like that....come on!! Shed some light on me....Angie
I have heard of the other two books, but I haven't read them. I want you to read the Thirteenth Tale so we can talk about it, but then I also want to know how good the Kite Runner is. I don't know which one you should read first! Good luck deciding! :)
I know, the end of Season 3, as Kellie Kapoor would say, was AMAZING! Then . . . it's a date! Yay, Jim and Pam!!! Oh, and what about Ryan getting that job??? I love The Office! There have only been a handful of Season 4 episodes because of the writer's strike. I shouldn't tell you what happens, but if you really want to know . . .
That was so AWESOME! when Ryan the temp got that job... I was dying because I really didn't want Karen to get it either. Okay..I really want to know what is going on in Season 4 but at the same time I dont...just tell me if Karen is in Season 4!!
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